Jonathan Gruber made himself politically essential last week. The MIT economist who is sometimes described as the “architect” of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) seemed to betray his own team and disparage his own work, as videos appeared where Gruber said the administration had basically lied to get the healthcare law passed. Gruber is the Snowden of Obamacare, exposing some inner workings of the law that the general public may not be privy to. Republicans who wish to repeal the Affordable Care Act are responding to Gruber as though he’s a brave truth-telling hero.
In 2012, Gruber said: “It’s a very clever, you know, basic exploitation of the lack of economic understanding of the American voter.” In a 2013 video Gruber says “they stupidity of the American voter…was critical to getting the thing to pass.” Gruber apologized on Ronan Farrow’s MSNBC show for his “off the cuff remarks.” Gruber was allegedly well paid for his work on the health law.
